“Bobby's not religious,” she told her mother. “He wouldn't want to be married in St. Paddy's.”

“Does he want to be married at all? Bobby's frightened out of his mind right now. He shouldn't be making a decision like this.”

Rose threw the dresses down on the bed. “Will you listen to yourself? All you're worried about is Bobby. What about me? What about what I want?”

“You're the one I'm worried about! I don't want you tied to a man who is going to wake up in a few months, realize that he's not going to die, and then think he made a mistake.”

“That won't happen.”

“Do you really think he wants to settle down? To be a good husband?”

“He'll be a good husband because I'll make it easy for him.”

“And what will you get out of that?”

“Him.”

“Will that be enough? You deserve a man who cares about you. Bobby never will, not as much as he cares about himself.”

Lu's words hurt. They hurt more than Rose would have thought possible. “You make him sound horrible,” she cried.

“No, he's selfish. Because he has to be. Because what he uses for his work is every part of himself; his imagination, his feelings, his talent. And as he becomes more successful, he's going to get spoiled. Bobby has such a big gift, people will forgive him anything. He hasn't got the strength to resist all those people who will tell him he can have whatever he wants, do whatever he wants.”

“You're saying he's going to be a monster.”

“A gifted, charming one. Yes.”

“Now you can predict the future? You know what Bobby's going to be ten or twenty years from now?”

“I think I have a pretty good idea. Do you?”

“Maybe there was a time when Bobby was the way you say he is, but then he got sick and that changed him. He's more serious now. He understands what's important.”

“What if he doesn't?” Her mother's voice was scraping away all the pretty pictures Rose had painted over her own doubts.

“He loves me! He says he does,” she shouted, to drown out the voice.

But Lu went on. “And maybe he means it. As far as he can. But he'll never love you as much as he loves his work. He can't help it, Rose. It's just the way he is.”

Images of Bobby's face when he talked about show business flashed through Rose's mind. She saw the eagerness in his smile, the hunger in his eyes. Then she saw other images—she saw Lu coming to the house in New Haven for a hurried visit and leaving before Nonna could serve the baked ziti because she had to go back to the theater, or Lu canceling another date to see her daughter ice-skate because there was an emergency rehearsal. And in a sudden clear-sighted moment Rose thought, I never had you, Mother. I'm going to have him.